Quest for Space Enchantment Day 5
Description Welcome to The VFK Space Enchantment Epic Quest Day 5! Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, has long captured our imagination. The distinctive reddish color has been seen by observers since ancient times. In honor of their god of war, the Romans named the planet Mars. The ancient Egyptians called it "Her Descher" which means "the red one." It is also referred to by its similar nickname, "The Red Planet." Early astronomers saw what they believed to be canals crisscrossing the surface which gave rise to the belief that Mars was inhabited by intelligent beings. So why is Mars red, what are the canals, and are men really from Mars? For the fifth day of our epic quest for Space Enchantment, we will look at the beautiful and mysterious planet Mars. Your reward for completing this quest will be 1,000 credits, and the Space Enchantment Epic Quest Day 5 Pin! Prizes Questions 1. Because Mars has a thin atmosphere, if humans could walk on the surface of Mars and gaze up at the sky, they would see a strange pinkish, yellowish color. So why would the Martian sky not be blue like the Earth's? In the Earth's atmosphere, the nitrogen and oxygen molecules reflect blue light better than red light. Because the incoming sunlight is scattered most efficiently for blue, that is the predominant color we see. The reddish color of Mars comes from the iron oxide in the soil rocks and sky. The Martian soil has a high amount of very small dust particles similar in size to flour particles, and very high winds in the thin atmosphere. What is the reflection of light off very small particles called? * Prismatic phenomenon * Rayleigh scattering * Canterbury reflection * Scatter refraction 2. The high winds in the Martian atmosphere pick up the fine red dust particles and suspend them in the air. The Martian wind storms make even the most severe dust storms in the Earth's deserts seem like light winds, and these huge planet wide dust storms blow the iron oxide dust particles up into the upper Martian atmosphere. Once at that high altitude, they are the size necessary for the scattering of all the colors by Rayleigh scattering. If the only effect were from the scattering, the Martian sky would appear white, but when you add in the presence of the iron oxide dust in the upper atmosphere, they absorb the shorter wavelength blue light. This allows the longer wavelength yellow and red light to reach the ground, giving the sky a pinkish yellow color. Go to the Central Square in the Medieval Age and say "The sky is a lovely shade of red today!" 3. The Martian atmosphere is approximately 100 times thinner than the atmosphere on earth. It has only .13 percent oxygen compared to 21 percent on Earth. 95.3% of the air in the Martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide. The rest of the gases in the atmosphere are nitrogen (2.7%), argon (1.6%), carbon monoxide (.07%), and water vapor (.03%). The Martian atmosphere has thin clouds. The clouds form at high altitudes and are comprised of frozen CO2 particles. Also, clouds, fog and haze are common. The fog and haze occur in the early morning when temperatures are the coldest. Of what is the fog and haze comprised? * Carbon Dioxide ice * Water ice * Nitrogen ice * Dust particles 4. Observers are able to chart the general circulation and wind patterns over the whole planet. They study the global movement of the wind by watching the clouds, the appearance of the suspended dust, and movement of sand on the surface. The same process that causes winds on Earth appears to cause winds on Mars. Heat from the sun warms the atmosphere to a greater degree at the lower latitudes than at the high latitudes. The warmed air at the equatorial region rises, then the cooler air rushes in along the surface to take its place. When the air moves toward the poles, it cools and sinks. It is then drawn in to the equatorial regions again by the effect of the sun's heat. This process causes convective currents in the air. Go to the Fireworks lobby and say "Mars is the red planet." 5. There are two moons orbiting Mars. They are far smaller than the Earth's moon and are irregularly shaped. The two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are named after the sons of the Greek war god Ares who is the Greek equivalent to the Roman war god Mars. In Greek, the name Phobos means fear and Deimos means panic. Phobos orbits much closer to Mars than any other moon in the solar system and is closer to the planet than the second moon Deimos. Phobos was discovered August 12, 1877. It orbits Mars faster than the planet can turn one revolution on its axis. Deimos was discovered on August 8, 1877. The moons are both heavily pitted and cratered, and are thought to be asteroids captured by Mars gravity. Who discovered both the moons? * Johann Gottfried Galle * Edmond Halley * Christiaan Huygens * Asaph Hall 6. Phobos is referred to as the doomed moon. Its orbit is slowly decaying by 1.8 meters every one hundred years. It is predicted that it will eventually crash into Mars, or as it gets closer, that it will eventually be broken apart by the stress of the tidal forces of Mars and become a ring of debris around the planet. The moons are theorized to be asteroids that originated from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The most outstanding feature of Phobos is a huge impact crater six miles across, and a streak pattern remains on the moon from the impact. The crater was named Stickney crater by Hall. The moon is only 27 km at is widest point, and orbits Mars three time per day. Both moons appear to be comprised of carbonaceous type rock and possibly ice. Go to Victorian Main Street and say "Everybody, have no fear, and don't panic." 7. The history of Mars exploration is somewhat complex, mostly because of the number of missions, orbiters and robotic spacecraft that have been sent to study The Red Planet. Mariner 4, the first successful flyby mission, reached Mars on July 14, 1965 and came within 6,118 miles of the Martian surface. It had taken 8 months to get there, but the trip was worth it. Mariner 4 sent 22 close up photographs of Mars back to earth. It showed the cratered surface, confirmed that the thin atmosphere was mostly CO2 and detected a small magnetic field. When Mariner 6 arrived in Feb. 1969, it passed closer to the planet. Only a month later, Mariner 7 passed by as well. Both Mariner missions measured surface and atmospheric temperature, surface molecular composition and atmospheric pressure. They also sent over 200 pictures as well. What year was the first successful landing on Mars of a robotic lander? * 1969 * 1971 * 1975 * 1980 8. Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars in 1971 to become the first spacecraft to orbit a planet other than Earth. It arrived when a huge dust storm was raging on the planet surface delaying some of the experiments until the storm had subsided. River and channel type features were observed. In 2001 Mars Odyssey reached the planet. Its goal was to do mineral research and act as a communications relay. Two Mars rovers were launched in 2003. Spirit was launched on July 7, 2003. It arrived on Jan. 3rd, 2009. Opportunity was launched on July 7, 2003. Go to the Castle Entrance with the fountain, and say "Opportunity knocks!" 9. With all the probes and missions to Mars, Scientists have found evidence that water could have flowed at one time on Mars. The evidence they have found includes valleys, gullies and channels on the surface. They also have found sediments that may have been deposited by water. The landscape of Mars shows a canyon system far deeper than the Grand Canyon and mountains much higher than the highest peaks on Earth. Also, Mars has seasons. Because Mars has an inclined axis they have a winter, spring, summer and fall. Mars is much smaller than earth, so the gravity is less. Of what percentage of Earth's is the gravity of Mars? * Only 10% of Earth's * Only 38% of Earth's * Only 27% of Earth's * Only 42% of Earth's 10. If you were a person standing on Mars, you would feel like you weighed 62% less. If you dropped a rock, the rock would fall to the ground slower than an Earth rock. Scientists believe that there is a good chance that water many still be found in pores and cracks of rock below the surface. One of the probes discovered large amounts of ice below the surface near the south pole. The ice found is in the upper 3 feet of soil and that soil is composed of over 50 percent water ice. The estimated volume of water ice discovered is over 2500 cubic miles, which could fill Lake Michigan more than twice. Because the probes cannot go deeper than three feet, they cannot yet tell how much water ice is on Mars. Go to the Marshall's office in Western Age and say "Robots are climbing all over Mars!" Answers 1. Rayleigh scattering 2. Go to the Central Square in the Medieval Age and say "The sky is a lovely shade of red today!" 3. Water ice 4. Go to the 4th of July Fireworks Lobby and say "Mars is the red planet." 5. Asaph Hall 6. Go to Victorian Main Street and say "Everybody, have no fear, and don't panic." 7. 1971 8. Go to the Castle Entrance with the fountain, and say "Opportunity knocks!" 9. Only 38% of Earth's 10. Go to the Inside Marshall's Office in Western Age and say "Robots are climbing all over Mars!" Category:Quests Category:Epic Quests